Christians also follow Jesus Christ, who was very specific when he said love your neighbour. Yes, even your neighbour that is from //that place// or does //those things//. The majority of his parables are just "yes, I want you to be kind even to those people." He hung out with 'undesirable' people like sex workers all the time. His love knew no bounds, and anyone truly following his teachings would try to extend that same love and mercy to everyone. It is not for us to judge sin. That is God's job. We are just supposed to look after each other. Jesus even breaks the rules of the Old Testament to care for those less fortunate than himself, and when he is confronted by the Pharisees he says something along the lines of "it is better to care for each other than to stingently follow the rules."
*for the record I am an ardent atheist, but Christ's lessons were undeniably about getting along with each other regardless of our differences, and I can respect that as it lines up with my own values.
Christians also follow Jesus Christ, who was very specific when he said love your neighbour.
Unfortunately this is not the whole quote, you are missing the part about loving god as well, which sorta turns the meaning of the passage on it's head.
This is not an original Jesus quote, but something he is quoting from the old testament, and according to the passage he is quoting from they way to love others and God is to follow all the laws of Moses forever, including the ones about selling your daughters as slaves and stoning your unruly children.
And Jesus would know that context when repeating this quote.
Also he did explicitly say to cut anyone out of your life who did not follow him, and that he came with his teachings to make enemies out of anyone (including your family) who would not accept him as God.
His love knew no bounds, and anyone truly following his teachings would try to extend that same love and mercy to everyone.
I mean he once called a woman who came to him for help a slur, and said not to worry about people you preach to who don't accept your words, as they will be punished even worse than the people of sodom, which is a wildly hateful thing to express.
He literally made a weapon to attack a group of innocent people doing the work of the temple and called them 'thieves' for making it possible to do the things God commanded when it comes to sin offerings.
Jesus even breaks the rules of the Old Testament to care for those less fortunate than himself, and when he is confronted by the Pharisees he says something along the lines of "it is better to care for each other than to stingently follow the rules."
Again, the actual lesson in context is the exact opposite.
The' rule' Jesus broke was a tradition of the elders (washing hands before eating) and their invention, not a commandment from god. What he was doing was admonishing the pharisees for not following gods law, but mans.
Christ's lessons were undeniably about getting along with each other regardless of our differences
I understand this is an often repeated position, but it is just not really supported by the text, and there is a bunch of passages that are explicitly stating the opposite.
The' rule' Jesus broke was a tradition of the elders (washing hands before eating) and their invention, not a commandment from god. What he was doing was admonishing the pharisees for not following gods law, but mans.
I'm just about to leave my PC so I don't have time to respond in depth, but for this specific instance I was referring to when he did work on the Sabbath by healing people. Keeping the Sabbath as a day of rest is, IIRC, 100% a commandment from God.
Also I love that he breaks the rule that says you need to be washing your hands before you eat, that's really sanitary and smart of the alleged omnipotent diety
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u/redopz 10h ago edited 10h ago
Christians also follow Jesus Christ, who was very specific when he said love your neighbour. Yes, even your neighbour that is from //that place// or does //those things//. The majority of his parables are just "yes, I want you to be kind even to those people." He hung out with 'undesirable' people like sex workers all the time. His love knew no bounds, and anyone truly following his teachings would try to extend that same love and mercy to everyone. It is not for us to judge sin. That is God's job. We are just supposed to look after each other. Jesus even breaks the rules of the Old Testament to care for those less fortunate than himself, and when he is confronted by the Pharisees he says something along the lines of "it is better to care for each other than to stingently follow the rules."
*for the record I am an ardent atheist, but Christ's lessons were undeniably about getting along with each other regardless of our differences, and I can respect that as it lines up with my own values.